


take care

by ronsparkyspeirs



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-20
Updated: 2015-06-20
Packaged: 2018-04-05 06:31:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4169493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ronsparkyspeirs/pseuds/ronsparkyspeirs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Beth gets pregnant and doesn't officially meet her baby daddy till she's along eight months.</p>
            </blockquote>





	take care

“I can’t look at it,” she says, tears pooling in her eyes because she already knows, “please, Maggie, will you?”

“You know that whatever happens, I’ll be here for you, right?” Maggie asks, her eyes so tender and understanding that it only makes Beth want to cry even more.

Beth nods as Maggie rises from her seat on the edge of the toilet, her footsteps uncomfortably loud in the small bathroom as she reaches the little stick resting on the counter sink.

“Is it– is it positive?” Beth asks, her voice timid and so unlike the usual girl she’s always been.

“Yes.”

She bursts out in tears, this wasn’t how she planned on having her babies. Not at nineteen with the father who knows where, and definitely not as the result of a one night stand. Beth sobs and Maggie cradles her like a child, murmuring, soothing and comforting words. She’s not alone, she’ll always have her family.

 

* * *

 

 

She’s eight months pregnant when she’s introduced to the father of her child. She’s on her way home from a grocery run when her car starts blowing smoke from inside the hood, so she pulls into the nearest mechanics and quite literally meets Daryl Dixon, barefoot and pregnant.

A tall, handsome, Latino man ushers her into the air conditioned office but Beth never forgets a face, she can see him through the little window and he looks exactly the same. Tanned arms, leather vest and shaggy hair, she’s so entranced that she doesn’t hear what the man speaking to her says the first time.

He smiles, “Sweetheart, where are your shoes?”

“Huh?” she asks, and he points down to her bare feet, “oh! They’re in the front seat, my feet have been getting really swollen lately.” He nods in response, “I’ll have Daryl bring them in,” he says and turns to walk out of the office. ‘Daryl’ she mouths, that’s her baby’s father.

A few minutes later as she’s sitting on a pleather couch he comes in, white flats hanging from his fingers. They stare at each other for what seems like an eternity, his gaze drops to her swollen belly and it seems like he’s working out a timeline, counting back the months to that night in the dingy bar that Beth’s friends had convinced her to go to.

“Are you– is that–,” he seems to be at a loss for words and Beth thinks that he might faint by the way all the color’s fled from his face.

“You were the second man I ever slept with,” she tells him quietly.

He lets out a loud whoosh of air and goes to sit next to her. He nods to himself and Beth keeps staring at him because he doesn’t seem ready to bolt, he breathes in and out and suddenly extends his hand out, “’m Daryl Dixon,” he says.

“Beth Greene,” she responds, and his palm is sweaty but his grip is tight and it’s sort of sweet.

He places her shoes by her feet and stands up, “I’ll be right back,” he tells her.

She can see him talking to who she supposes is the manager, the same Latino man that greeted her, they’re speaking in low voices so Beth doesn’t know exactly what Daryl tells him but the other man’s eyebrows shoot up practically into his forehead and he looks over Daryl’s shoulder to Beth and she blushes scarlet when he grins at her. He nods and pats Daryl on the shoulder, Daryl turns and heads back toward Beth. She slips on her shoes and stands when he comes back inside the office.

“There’s uh, a diner nearby,” he tells her and Beth just looks at him because she’s not sure she gets what he’s saying. “To talk,” he says.

“Oh, yeah, of course.”

He gestures with his head to follow him outside and so she does, the other men working in the garage curiously looking on at the pair. Daryl’s silent as he leads her to his truck. She has some difficulty climbing aboard and giggles nervously when she finally settles onto the seat. Daryl’s silent on the short drive to the diner, but he opens the car door for her when they arrive and she smiles in gratitude.

The little restaurant is almost empty and they both walk to a booth, he orders a coffee and she an iced tea.

“You can get something else,” he says.

“Thanks, but I’m fine,” she’s actually sort of hungry but she doesn’t think she can have any semblance of a conversation with the man who got her pregnant and be eating a bowl of grits at the same time.

He clears his throat and glares at his coffee, Beth fidgets in her seat and takes a sip of her iced tea, “So, how old are you?”

Daryl chews on his lower lip, “Thirty-seven,” he says, voice low and raspy.

“Oh.”

“You?”

“Nineteen.”

“Christ,” he mutters, and then he lifts his hand to his mouth and starts biting on his thumbnail.

“I didn’t know anything about you, your name, where you worked, anything,” she says quietly, “that’s why I didn’t let you know sooner, not because I was trying to keep it a secret.”

“’M sorry,” he murmurs, “does– do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” he asks.

Beth smiles wide and enthusiastically, “A baby boy.”

Daryl’s eyes widen and he gives her a little smile in return, “Have a name yet?”

“Several, haven’t made up my mind yet.”

He nods and looks down at his coffee. He looks sad and Beth wants him in their life but it all happened so soon and she’s not sure what to say. “Daryl, do you want to be in our life? I mean, I don’t want to tie you down into something you don’t want. If you don’t want to be a daddy then just tell me and you’ll never hear from me again,” she realizes that she’s been rambling and when she looks at Daryl he’s just gazing at her, eyes open and vulnerable and she thinks she can see into his soul.

“You’d let me do that? Be in his life?” He asks, sounding like a child himself.

“Of course! You’re his daddy after all.”

He hunches over his coffee, elbows on the laminated table, “I’d like that,” he says softly, his voice gentle.

Beth smiles at him, her cheeks feel like they might burst, she’s smiling so hard, “I’d like that too.”

Daryl blushes and looks away, and Beth thinks that he’s going to be a real good father.


End file.
